Economizing Behavior and the Concept of “Curation”

Abstract

Stone tool curation is a concept employed to explain certain aspects of prehistoric hunter-gatherer behavior, and its effect on lithic assemblages can be similar to that of responses to lithic raw material scarcity. These two concepts are examined here with respect to their validity and viability, and are applied to lithic data from the Lower Illinois Valley. Because of operational difficulties, only two of the five most com? monly employed components of curation could be applied to the Illinois data, and the results of these two have led to different conclusions. Definitional ambiguities suggest that the term “curation” should not be employed without specifying its precise meaning, and should probably be restricted to those definitions emphasizing settlement and mobility organization. In comparing the effects on lithic collections of curation and scarcity-induced economizing behavior, certain variables in the Illinois Valley data were found to be useful in distinguishing either of these from the other.